Ground Blessing Service
The World Trade Center
October 18, 2014
This service is based on the Service of Laying the Cornerstone for a Church. For Saint Nicholas National Shrine, cairns (a memorial collection of stones) were built up in imitation of the cairn at Gilgal that the Prophet Joshua fashioned to commemorate the crossing over of the Israelites into the Promised Land (Joshua, ch. 4). In this service, two cairns were constructed, in memory of the Twin Towers, and these cairns will eventually be installed permanently at the entrance to the church.
The Blessing Service was made up of hymns in honor of Saint Nicholas, Scripture readings, and prayers for the Blessing of Water, which were then be sprinkled on the site. Before the service commenced, water was drawn from the 9/11 Memorial fountains by family members of the victims who perished during the tragic event of 9/11. After they had filled their vessels for the sanctification of the water, Psalm 150 was chanted. A procession followed and the water was deposited into a special fount. After the water was sanctified and sprinkled by the Archbishop, the cairns were constructed by representatives of the entire community.
To learn more, visit http://www.stnicholaswtc.org
